Contentions

One of the most liberal members of President Obama’s bipartisan deficit commission unveiled her own plan Tuesday to balance the budget: Keep Social Security benefits intact, make deep reductions at the Pentagon and raise corporate taxes to target profits and excessive pay for chief executives.

This is important for several reasons. First, it comes from not only one of the most liberal but also one of the least influential members of Congress, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). Second, it bears little resemblance to what came out of the president’s debt commission. Third, it reflects a total unawareness that we are in the midst of a war (“she proposes to take virtually all of the cuts from the military, slicing $110 billion from the defense budget in 2015 by reducing troop levels, cutting weapons systems, and scaling back wartime spending”). In sum, it is the perfect distillation of the irresponsible left, which imagines that we can simply decide not to defend ourselves, savage the “rich,” and — presto — become a more secure and prosperous country.

It’s good to know that this is not the starting point for deficit debate (that was the debt-commission plan). It is also a helpful reminder of what the Pelosi Democrats would do if they had their druthers.